Ep. 73: Lochlea Distillery with John Campbell

Author: David Levine
Published: Wed 18 Jan 2023
Episode Link: https://whiskeyringpodcast.podbean.com/e/ep-73-lochlea-distillery-with-john-campbell/

Lochlea Distillery sits on the Lowlands in Ayrshire, Scotland, producing whisky on the same farm Robert Burns tended over two centuries ago. For now, it's small scale, but behind that small scale is a world-class team.

When Lochlea was founded, the team brought in Malcolm Rennie, a long-time Islay veteran to build and design the internal functions. They played around with multiple fermentations, multiple yeasts, and more, searching for the house character they wanted to achieve.

Towards the end of 2021, Lochlea scored another win, bringing Laphroaig's former Master Distiller John Campbell in to oversee the next phase of Lochlea's growth. They're down to one fermentation, one yeast strain, and are playing with cask finishings to enhance their whisky.

In writing my first review of the Sowing Edition, I was skeptical of how the whisky could be that good that soon, but there it was. In talking with John, it's clear he has a vision for Lochlea long into the future (we're talking 10-15 years) - if it's that good at three years, I can't wait to see what happens next.

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Before we jump into the interview just a few quick notes:

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Thanks for reading! Now here’s John Campbell of Lochlea Distillery.

Lochlea Distillery